Newswatch

OHIO BUY RECYCLED ALLIANCE FORMS

In an effort to stimulate increased demand for recycled products and increase education about recycling, businesses in Ohio — in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Clean-Land, Ohio — have creat-ed the Ohio Buy Recycled Business Alliance. Members of the state association automatically become members of the national Buy Recycled Business Alliance, a project of the National Recycling Coalition, Washington, D.C.

In helping to launch the organization, David Hoag, chairman and CEO of LTV Steel, Cleveland, said that many businesses believe in creating recycled products, but that active consumer demand for such products is also critical.

"Creating that market is the purpose of the Alliance," said Hoag. In addition, he stressed that a number of myths that have grown up around recycling — that business is by necessity wasteful, that recycled products are inferior, and that recycling results in lost jobs — will have to be dispelled for the buy recycled concept to succeed.

Founding members of the Ohio Buy Recycled Business Alliance include BP America, East Ohio Gas, LTV Steel, KeyCorp, Meridia Health Systems, Ostendorf Morris Co., Warner Cable and the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.

BRAZIL EYES RUBBER RECYCLING OPTION

Rubber recycling could find a new large market in Brazil, where 83 percent of cargo is transported along highways that are difficult to maintain, according to Cempre, the Brazilian recycling association.

"Mixed with asphalt, rubber has given pavements more elasticity and flexibility, preventing cracks and deformations when exposed to abrupt changes in temperature," Cempre notes. "The technology for producing regenerated rubber to be used in asphalt is already available in Brazil."

Unfortunately, the option of recycled rubber additives has not been exercised in any road repair projects in Brazil to date, adds Cempre.

Relastomer, a tire recycler located in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, has developed a technology that mixes rubber with asphalt at half the cost of the conventional process.

"With this technique, recycled rubber acquires characteristics that are more similar to the virgin product," according to Cempre. "Furthermore, pavements can receive a share of more than 20 percent of recycled rubber, whereas with the traditional process, the share is usually 8 percent."

He added, however, that "due to the current lack of interest by asphalt producers, Relastomer has been producing regenerated rubber basically for rubber goods manufacturers."

CIWMB REVIEWS WASTE-REDUCTION PLANS

The California Integrated Waste Management Board has reviewed 195 Source Reduction and Recycling Elements, which outline how local governments intend to meet mandates to reduce waste by 25 percent this year and 50 percent by the year 2000. Of the 195 plans reviewed, 93 percent have been approved by the board. The plans outline programs such as: curbside collection of recyclables; backyard composting; yard and wood waste collection; commercial/industrial recycling; and development of school curriculum on integrated waste management. The board expects to complete its review of the remaining 333 plans by June.

OHIO ROUNDS UP A MILLION POUNDS

The first Ohio Appliance Recycling Round-Up reached well beyond expectations, with 8,691 appliances brought to scrap yards from eight Ohio counties. Conservative estimates are that the items collected represented 1.8 million pounds of appliances.

The event, sponsored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Steel Recycling Institute, Atlas Iron Processors, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and LTV Steel, was designed to rid consumers of used, unwanted appliances and to encourage year-round appliance recycling.